Istanbul to Venice
November 5-16, 2011

With earthquakes in Eastern Turkey and justifiable disquietude in Istanbul among women concerning their role in Turkish society; a financial crisis of profound proportions, and perhaps profound future implications as well, in Greece; Kotor in Montenegro having been declared an Endangered World Cultural Heritage site due to an earthquake in 1979 from which it is yet to have recovered, as well as just beginning to express itself as a full-fledged country, having removed itself from Serbian rule and gained independence in 2006; Dubrovnik in Croatia still extracting itself physically and psychologically from intense Serbian bombing in 1991 (2000-plus bombs estimated), as well as each of these remarkable countries having venerable histories of relentless conquests from the west, north, east and sometimes even the south across the Mediterranean (At some point, easier than going across plains and mountains), it would seem obvious that this part of the world has been ready for a drink for some time and may continue to be so into the relatively foreseeable future.

The drink of choice in Turkey, Greece and Montenegro, and to a certain extent in Croatia, has for generations been Raki (the "Official" drink of Turkey) or Ouzo (perhaps derived from the Turkish word for grape, "uzum"). Raki is made from distilled pomace, similar to Italian Grappa. To create Raki and Ouzo, alcohol is distilled from 96% to roughly 40%, dramatically higher than wine, and enough sugar is added to create a tangible sweetness, more so in Ouzo, which also includes an array of grapes, herbs and berries, such as star anise, coriander, cloves, angelica root, licorice, mint, wintergreen, fennel, hazelnut, and sometimes cinnamon and lime blossom. The sweetness impedes ethanol absorption, hence the danger of feeling that you can easily handle a glass or two. The locals know that you add an equal portion of water to the top of the beverage as well as some ice cubes to hide some of the flavors that are less appealing than the predominant anise flavor it always exhibits, and then you have a chance of having a peripherally cogent conversation during most of a dinner evening. Virtually certainly, your vocalizations will become more audible, and your gesticulations will become more visible, perhaps somewhat filling in gaps in your sentences.

Given the human being's infinite capacity to rationalize, particularly with regard to appropriate comestibles specific to a given culture, each of the aforementioned countries professes that Ouzo is a terrific match for the food of its own culture, particularly seafood, although the cuisine of each includes a far greater variety of choices, such as fruits, vegetables, yogurts, various fowls and beasts, as well as an array of desserts. Those of us who are into wine know full well that matching cuisine with beverages, particularly those that contain alcohol, is extremely specific per type of food and type of beverage and is not a subject that even remotely lends itself to homogeneity.

What most people who are interested in wine do not know is that those Turks, Greeks and Montenegrins, as well as the neighboring Croatians, who are interested in wine are aware of that complex relationship as well, so based on their awareness and their long agricultural histories that include wine grapes, I decided to analyze the wine terroir's relationship to the food terroir in each country during a remarkable cruise from Istanbul to Venice (We all know that the Venetians understand the relationship; more on that subject later!) on Crystal Cruises' Crystal Serenity, a wondrous ship that has been voted "Best Cruise Ship in the World" by Conde Nast Traveler for 2008, 2009 and 2010, of a remarkable cruise line that Conde Nast has voted "Best Large Ship Cruise Line" for 16 years running. The Crystal Serenity is most definitely interested in the subject of the relationship between fine food and fine wine, particularly evident in its Nobu Matsuhisa restaurant, Silk Road (my partner-in-life and traveling companion, Napa Valley Vintner Carissa Chappellet's favorite dining destination on the trip), its fine dining Italian restaurant Prego, and in its Vintage Room, where a limited number of guests are treated to a meal designed specifically for a host and the host's guests and paired with special wines to specifically match each of the courses.

Crystal Cruises was the choice for this adventure for a number of reasons, including a pertinent and interesting itinerary, as well as the fact that Crystal and the Central Coast Wine Classic have a substantive relationship, one that brings Debbie Doty, Crystal's District Sales Manager, from Los Angeles to the Wine Classic to offer a Cruise for Two as an Auction Lot. In 2011, the winning bidders were Jamie and Alyn Wallace from Los Osos, gourmets and wine people who have enjoyed the relationship between both subjects for many years. Alyn's mother and father, Norm and Carolyn Goss, were the original pioneers of the now blossoming Edna Valley wine community adjacent to San Luis Obispo, having planted Chamisal Vineyard in 1973, and Alyn lived there with her parents into her young adulthood. Except for an early arrival in Istanbul that resulted in Carissa's and my being treated together to a couple of very fine Turkish wines, Jamie and Alyn have been eager and gracious participants in the quasi-educational indulgences that resulted in the joyous sharing of many of the wines herein mentioned.

Aqua restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Bosphorus boasts a gracious and well-informed wine and food director by the name of Nihat Yucel, whose birth year by the way is 1961, an absolutely phenomenal vintage year in Bordeaux, which has been a blessing for Nihat, as he has friends who are wine collectors who treat him to wines from that vintage on special occasions, such as his 50th birthday wine, a 1961 Chateau Margaux!

Dining in Aqua and not having a clue about what Turkish wines to try with the food, I ordered a glass of Billecart-Salmon Rose Champagne, a wine that works with fish and fowl, and sometimes even meat. Nihat came by the table and solved the Turkish wine dilemma by treating us to glasses of the wines of a relatively new producer, one that is the first privately owned "boutique" winery in Turkey, Doluca on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Thrace, a winery now run by the Third Generation of the founding family, sister and brother, Sibel Kutman and Ali Kutman. As a result, I can definitely recommend Doluca Sarafin Series Chardonnay, similar to drier and less textural Chardonnays than the usual that I have experienced over the years but quite nice, and Doluca Sarafin Series Merlot, a wine that is most similar to a California Merlot in aromatics, texture and flavor than any other grape variety I could use as a comparison. The Chardonnay worked very well with seafood, and the Doluca Merlot was excellent with fowl and meat.

By the way, a couple of days later, the Crystal Serenity was able to dock in Athens harbor, as it arrived quite early in the morning, and the protests were not scheduled until 6 PM. Apparently, the tourist industry was determined to be of assistance in ameliorating the Greek economic condition, and there were a large number of visitors around and about Athens.

Greece is usually "dissed" by wine aficionados as having no wines worth the bother. I am here to tell you that is not the case! In the October 11 issue of Tasting Panel, London's renowned wine expert Steven Spurrier wrote an article discussing results of the 8th annual Decanter World Wine Awards, the category winners from 12,254 wines entered in the competition. The Single Varietal White Wine Over 10 Pounds Sterling category was won by an oak-fermented 2001 Assyrtiko from Argyros Estate on the island of Santorini, so I set myself to finding that wine. And find it I did, along with a terrific red wine from Argyros estate. Argyros was founded in 1903 with only five acres of vines and now boasts perhaps slightly over 15 acres. Both wines were discovered in a sort of wine shop called Wine & Art Gallery on, you guessed it, Santorini!

On Greek wine bottles, the first thing that you see is the grape varietal in very large bold letters, some of which I am not capable of reproducing on this word-processing system, but I will come as close as possible. You first see Asyrtiko with Argyros estate in smaller letters under it. The red wine was from the 2007 vintage, a Maupotpaforvo grape or something in that realm, as the letters do not fully translate to English from Greek. This grape variety must be relatively new to the Argyros Estate, as Googling it brings no result whatsoever.

Even though I know that Steve Spurrier has a world-class palate, I anticipated that the Asyrtiko could perhaps be "over the hill," as it is a dry white wine from a vintage 10 years previous. I was somewhat surprised to find that the Asyrtiko was full of life, high in acidity and citrus but with enough fruit to create a very well- balanced wine and had excellent texture and a rather long finish. It was easy to see why it was so highly acclaimed.

I decided to have the Maupotp-whatever decanted, as 2007 is quite recent, and the wine was purported to be full-bodied and potentially long-lived, although as indicated, I could not find other vintages anywhere in my world internet search to vouch for that claim. The decanting, handled by one of Crystal Cruises' attentive and professional sommeliers, was a beneficial move, as the wine had some Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics tannin-wise and with regard to the aromatics (blackberry and cassis), and they needed the beneficial effects of air to allow them to mellow. The overall impression, however, was that of a Big Merlot, one from the Right Bank in Bordeaux; it had a distinct elegance and refinement and a long finish that was textural and filled with fruits that were not overly ripe. It could have passed for a St-Emilion, and upon reflection, it also had some of the characteristics of a first-rate Italian Sangiovese, but it was somewhat richer in fruit and texture. OK, the decision is it was more similar to a St.-Emilion with a preponderance of Merlot than to an Italian Sangiovese!

The next stop along the wine route was Montenegro, again not at the tip of the brain when thinking of fine wine. Kotor, the docking town, has on its bay a very fine dining establishment, Galion restaurant, one that is so beautifully designed that you might think that you were in a major city, not perched over the water in a small bay; however, the three glass walls of the dining room that opened the entire bay to be enjoyed indicated anything but a citified location.

After I had ordered a 2008 Chardonnay Barique that was fermented in oak, probably from Montenegro, similar to that of Yugoslavia in its effects on the aromatics and flavor of the wine, of a very fine Montenegrin producer by the name of Plantaze and had found it to be more in the nature of an oaky white Bordeaux (Sauvignon Blanc without the grassy quality) with a hint of residual sugar, from that point forward I requested the advice of the head sommelier specifically regarding the best wines to pair with a ceviche appetizer, a peppery gazpacho soup course and a meaty sea bass (Caught one hour prior to the dinner) main course.

The sommelier became animated and excited and suggested a 2007 Movia Sivi Pinot, an Italian Pinot Grigio derivative purportedly named after the color of the mane of a horse; from the color, it was probably a Palomino. The Sivi Pinot wine from Slovenia, and since I was boycotting anything from Serbia in defiance over the 1991 bombing of Dubrovnik (At some point, I may get beyond that ...) and supporting anything from Slovenia and Croatia, I went for it. As most Pinot Grigios irrespective of terroir, it was quite crisp aromatically, but its aromas were even more complex. It was also more complex in the flavor profile, and the texture was far lusher than the usual Pinot Grigio. It was an outstanding match with the first two courses.

For the red wine, he suggested another produced by Plantaze, the 2004 Vranac Reserve, Vranac being the name of the Montenegrin grape variety. It had a beautifully expressive aromatic profile similar to an Italian Brunello de Montalcino, such as slight burnt orange rind, but somewhat more overt and more clean, so to speak. It was much riper than the aforementioned Italian wine tends to be, but nowhere near as ripe as an Australian Shiraz. I hope that is relatively clear; I don't know how else to describe it. It had a variety of mineral flavors that were also clean and complex, and they carried into a long, complex and enjoyable finish. It was a wine that would have worked well with fowl and with most meats as well, but it did just fine in its relationship with the sea bass.

One of the thoughts that came to mind in analyzing the ripeness of some of these wines from areas where that might not have been expected was the change in world-wide climatic conditions and the influence that it is having on the European wine industry.

As many of you are aware, the most memorable relatively recent very warm to hot year for Bordeaux was 1982, memorable for several reasons. One reason is that world-renowned wine critic Robert Parker began his career by painstakingly analyzing, reporting and supporting that vintage as a superior one, and there had not been one of that quality, other than 1975 which was too hot and created wines that were dry and tannic and many of which have yet to come to the fore, since the prior very sunny, warm, exceptional vintage, 1961. That is a string of 20 years without proper sun and warmth to create a single vintage that allowed for the production of special wines! The fact that the Bordelaise economically survived that period is absolutely amazing.

Secondly, following 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988 (perhaps too warm, similar to 1975), 1990 (superb), 1995, 1996, 2000 (spectacular), 2003 (also arguably somewhat too warm) and 2005 (spectacular), a string of TEN very warm to hot vintages within a period of just over 20 years! The good weather may arguably be continuing with the exceptional 2010 vintage as an example.

The French wine industry saw the vintages of the 80s not as anomalies but as a possible trend and has seriously studied the climatic changes for the past 25 years or so and will continue to do so. The focused and in depth analysis continues.

In the interim of what may happen regarding climate change in the world's various terroirs, it is obvious that the wines from a number of areas of Europe have improved in ripeness, roundness and richness, with aromatics and flavors that are extremely enjoyable. You may find this comment odd, but China may be the next area where climate change of increased temperatures will enhance their grape growing capacity, quantity and quality. OK, enough about that subject!

The stunningly interesting and beautiful and historic city of Venice is next on the itinerary, but all of you know about Italian wines and Italian cuisine, a match made in nirvana! Those of you who are interested in that subject, please be advised that one of the 2012 Wine Classic's Rare & Fine Wine & Lifestyle Auction Lots (The Auction will be under the tents at the Avila Beach Golf Resort on Saturday, July 14) will be a revisit of the remarkable 1997 vintage of Italy, including the wines of Piedmont and Tuscany, at a Dinner in San Francisco or San Luis Obispo, the winning bidders' choice. You can expect some of the usual amazing producers, Gaja, Antinori, Pio Cesare, Bruno Giacosa, etc.

In addition, our relationship with Crystal Cruises continues next year, destination to be determined, and you can meet the gracious and enthusiastic Debbie Doty at the Auction, as well as enjoy the companionship of Mary Vickers of Gulliver's Travel of San Luis Obispo, the affable and professional agent who arranges the voyage for the winning bidders and other Wine Classic patrons.

Cheers and bon voyage!